DC UNIVERSE Month 63, Part 2

ICON VS. HARDWARE #2 by Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills and Denys Cowan. Curtis Metcalf is arrested for killing Alva. On trial, it is revealed that bullets fired at Metcalf were deflected by hardware, resulting in Alva’s death, which exonerates Metcalf. Running Alva Industries, Q Juice is developed and an unfortunate accident occurs in Sadaqah. The President enlists Metcalf to produce it for the armed forces. Icon gets involved in an effort to stop the war and that brings him into conflict with both versions of Hardware. Present day Hardware explains that he did what he did to prevent Q Juice being used and developing the Bang Babies in the process. Hardware goes back in time and encounters someone who is also currently encountering Raquel....and his name is Vandal Savage.

POISON IVY #11 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Everyone at the conference are now infected with Lamia and Ivy uses it to try to block access to an oil refinery, almost getting everyone killed in the process. After sharing a kiss with Janet -from-HR,  she decides she needs to change. But Gwendolyne threatens a lawsuit and suddenly changes into a monster.

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #7 by Matthew Rosenberg, Ryan Cady, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Will Robson. The Joker battles Manhunter and appears to lose until Manhunter is hit by the police car driven by gang member Waffles. In Gotham, Jason is being transferred to Blackgate. High in the sky, Mr. Sprang decides to make a hasty exit from the plane he is riding in. Under Gotham, the other Joker is being tended to by Solomon Grundy. Back in L.A., Manhunter catches up with the police car containing The Joker and captures him, attempting to drown him in the L.A.  River.

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #3 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Emanuela Lupacchino,Cian Tormey, Alitha Martinez. Washinton D.C. is in ruins and Diana weeps. Cheetah finds her and Diana wonders how they can fight all the Gods at once. Billy Batson is still captive on Olympus and grows weaker each time he tries to use his powers. Hecate arrives with Yara and they free Billy and make their way back to Washington, joining Diana’s forces against the Gods. That is when the mysterious hooded man arrives and reveals himself as Ares, the God of war. Continued in WONDER WOMAN #798. In the backup, the Amazons continue their battle with the army of the dead. To be concluded in LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #4

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #4 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Josier Campbell, Cian Tormey, Alitha Martinez, and Caitlin Yarsky. A super powered Diana battles and defeats Hera. When she returns to Olympus, the Wizard declares Hera unworthy and bans her from Olympus because of all she has done. The spirit of Hippolyta helps the Amazons defeat their enemies and peace returns to Themyscira. In the aftermath, the Wizard and Hippolyta grant the powers of the Gods to Billy and Mary, meaning the powers of Shazam live in them again. To be continued in SHAZAM #1.

MULTIVERSITY: HARLEY SCREWS UP THE DCU #2 by Frank Tieri and Logan Faerber. The other Harley tells our Harley that Starro has taken over this world and she speaks from experience, as she bears the scars. Because of what Harley had done because of her time travelling, all of the Justice League got “Harley’d out of existence”. They get attacked by the Starro infected people and Harley goes ballistic, killing as many as possible. Eventually, the pair reach the time machine and leave. What they don’t know is that the Starro’s have their own time machine and they have already conquered time itself.

NIGHTWING #103 by Tom Taylor, C.S. Pascat, Travis Moore, Vasco Georgiev, and Eduardo Pansica. Raven, Nightwing, Cyborg and Beast Boy travel to Hell while Batgirl, Donna Troy and Starfire take Olivia to Themyscira, where Wonder Woamn is going to teach her how to fight. Neron has an interaction with Blaze and beats her down. The team finds her and she directs them to Neron’s tower, with Beast Boy disguised as one of Hell’s denizens and the team as his prisoners. Once inside, Cyborg gets into Neron’s computer and discovers that Olivia’s mother was Jezebel Jet. Neron visits the Grinning Man in prison, who tells him Olivia is in Themyscira. During Olivia’s training, Wonder Woman is revealed to be the Grinning Man and he is there with Gorilla Grodd and Doctor Polaris. Neron meets with Nightwing, who tells him that he is now Olivia’s legal guardian. But Neron tries to tempt the former Boy Wonder with all the powers to change the world. In the backup, the son of the woman who runs the show reveals himself as the person who cut the rope, in hopes that he would not have to continue as a performer and live a normal life. But that does not answer who planted the bomb, meaning the investigation continues.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA #3 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. The Blood Syndicate loses some members to the ‘Dark Man’. Virgil and his family try to work through some issues, with him feeling he needs to be the hero in Dakota. In the end, Quincy meets with a stranger who may pose a threat in the future.

SUPERBOY: THE MAN OF TOMORROW #1 by Kenny Porter and Jahnoy Linsay. Connor goes off into space after looking for distress signals to answer. It takes him to Planet Dragoi, where the Dominators are attacking. He battles the alien team of invaders but, in the end, he may have to find a new team, in the form of the Cosmoteers.

SUPERMAN #3 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. Superman and much of Metropolis, have been corrupted by the Parasites, leading to him ending up with Luthor, where they use Livewire’s powers to free Superman from Parasite’s hold on him. Superman meets with Rudy, who absorbs all of the tiny Parasites and gets so filled he passes out. Later, Superman and Lois discuss the possibilities of him joining Supercorp. He meets with ;Luthor, thanks him for helping to save Rudy and gifts him a Superman signal watch, agreeing to work with Supercorp. In the end, the secret cabal is looking for a new subject in the form of the Silver Banshee.

TIM DRAKE: ROBIN #8 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Nikola Cizmesija. Batwoman crashes on the deck of Tim’s boat. Her memory is mostly gone, only recalling going to sleep and coming face-to-face with a monster. They head to Gotham and find a battle going on between Detective Williams and the Chaos monsters. Along the way, Batwoman encounters one of the leaders and Sparrow is stabbed and may be dying. Who does Tim save: Batwoman or Sparrow?

THE UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #2 by Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham. Worm is taken to Doom Patrol’s headquarters, where she meets Flex Metallo. While Chief visits Niles, Robotman visits Dorothy Spinner’s grave. Later, Peacemaker contacts Worm, saying that there is a job to be done or they will blow the chip in Worm’s head. Velvet snoops around the headquarters and sees that Niles is looking to bring Mento back to life again. Worm decides to not continue his mission and Peacemaker sets off the bomb, but the heroes have temporarily jammed the signal. Worm asks the team to care for velvet and flies off, being killed as the jam no longer protects him. Peacemaker reveals that Worm was not the metahuman, Velvet is and that means they have a spy on the premises.

WILDC.A.T.S #6 by Matthew Rosenberg, Stephen Segovia and Tom Derenick. Clark Kent meets with Marlowe, questioning him about Halo’s business practices. Elsewhere, Cole shows up and meets with Max, which is quite the feat considering he was dead. He tells her that he needs to have a chat with Halliday. Fairchild and Zealot join up with Warblade and Backlash, where they burst into a warehouse and are attacked by robots controlled by Toyman, who explains that Halo recruited him and faked his death, allowing them to build Halo’s robots. Things get crazy when Zealot is given the choice of being with Halo or against them, leading to a fight with the other team members. Later, Zealot on Fairchild meet with Spartan, who is actually now inhabited by Deathblow. Cole meets with Adrianna and kills her. But she begins to glow and Cole thinks he may have made a big mistake.

WONDER WOMAN #798 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Josie Campbell, Amancay Nahuelpan, and Caitlin Yarsky.Diana and Shazam meet with Ares in the middle of a destroyed Washington D.C., where he suggests that they team up to take down Hera. With the rest of the team in tow, including Cheetah, Siggy, Yara and Mary Marvel, Diana faces off with Hera, being soundly defeated in the process. Mary utters that magic word and transfers her power to Diana. With the rest of the team in jeopardy, a transformed Diana reappears to take the fight to Hera. In the backup, a powerless Mary is met by Diana, who gives her three gifts to once again give her some sort of power. With that new power she battles and defeats Typhon, eventually joining Diana. Both stories are continued in LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS. #4.

DC UNIVERSE Month 63, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1054 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Dorado Quick, Yasmin Flores Montanez, and Max Raynor. Otho has attacked someone she was convinced was going to attack others. People think he’s an unfortunate civilian but he turns out to be one of Metallo’s drone. Jon and the Super Twins battle them and eventually Superman joins in. Metallo captures the twins. Superman defeats him, convincing Metallo that he will find his sister. It turns out his sister is being held captive by…Cyborg Superman, who threatens to use her for his next experiment. In the second story, Jon and Glyanna crash land and are menaced by Killamek. But it turns out that Glyanna is the villain of the piece as she captures Jon and insists that she will make Superman do whatever she wants. Meanwhile, Lois and Clark face Doombreaker. In the final tale, John Henry Irons reminisces on his first meeting with Superman during the Reign of Supermen while also battling Amalgam. In the end, some shadowy figure is taking an interest in the hero.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: JON KENT #2 by Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry. Jon, along with President Superman and Red Tornado, go on a hunt for Ultraman, who is continuing to kill off all the Clark Kent’s in the Multiverse. They encounter him, with Ultraman smashing Red Tornado and sending she and President Superman into the Phantom Zone. The pair battle and then Ultraman has his neck broken by another Clark Kent/Superman, who tells Jon he has his mother’s eyes.

BATGIRLS #17 by Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad. With things back to normal, the Batgirls decide to have a good time. Nbut an explosion and gunfire injures Grace O’Halloran’s cameraman. Distraught, Grace meets with Hill’s Angels to secure a gun: a meet broken up by Steph.A sniper attacks the group in the cementary with Steph saving them. Cass pursues the shooter, only finding an empty room with six bullets…one for each Batgirl.

BATMAN #134 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, and Adriano Di Benedetto. Batman continues his pursuit of Red Mask, who is revealed to be Darwin Halliday., who has already captured this world’s Lex Luthor and Barry Allen. He reveals he wants to become this world’s version of The Joker.As Red Mask flees, Batman contacts Jewel, telling her that Red Mask is going to unleash poison gas throughout the city. As he attempts to get out of the sewer, he encounters this world’s Ghostmaker and also Superman. Batman uses his voice to convince Superman to flee. In the streets of the city, the “Crane Brain” gas is affecting people and Selina helps to stop the police from beating up rioters. Batman battles Ghostmaker and manages to shut off the dispersing of the gas, so Red Mask unleashes the Leatherwings: an army turned into Man bats. In the backup, Robin, still searching for Batman, is sent back into the Bleed, where he meets a version of his mother.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #7 by Ed Brisson and Michele Bandini. Ghostmaker and El Gaucho find the holding cells of the captured villains. The rest of the team takes on Professor Pyg and his Dollotrons. They subdue the team so Pyg’s Dollotrons can take Mother away. But when Chuck threatens that everyone goes free or Mother will be cut to sawdust with a chainsaw, the villain backs off. The villains are turned over to Nightwing and the Bat Family, who arrange for them to go to Blackgate. In the end, Chuck talks to his father by phone for what may be the last time as someone named Dusty Bronco shoots the father and kills him.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #14 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. With Bruce free on bail, Metamorpho is on the loose, taking out his enemies one by one. Superman and Robin head off to Venezuela to track him down, where he is battling El Mantanzas and his robot army. Once there, the super team subdues El Mantanzas and talks some sense into Metamorpho. Later, Bruce, doing detective work in the Batcave, calls Clark at Stagg’s service and tells him that many billionaires have been replaced. Clark uses his x-ray vision to determine Stagg is not Stagg and is actually an android duplicate. That sends Superman and Robin to pay a visit to Professor Ivo, who claims his androids are there for Robin. He unleashes an android that can turn into any element…including Kryptonite. Meanwhile, Batman and Metamorpho pay a visit to Magnus Robotics, where they find that the Metal Men have been turned molten.

BLACK ADAM  #10 by Christopher Priest and Jose Luis. Jasmin is visited by, and taken over, by Love, who apparently thinks Jasmin is Ishtar. Adam meets with Malik, telling him a story of how he once had been profiled by police. Later, he meets with Oni Grace and her friend Stanley, who turns out to be Ibac. The pair battle and Ibac is taken down with the help of Malik. While War meets with folks at the Sanheoli Embassy, telling them that they should declare was on Khandaq, Malike and Adam return home, where Adam kisses Jasmin, which seriously upsets Malik.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #6 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. The final battle begins with Jaime realizing the Hroizon is not sending out a warning but a distress signal. After saving the Horizon ship and the occupants, jaine gives them an offer: stay in Palmera City.

CATWOMAN #54 by Tini Howard and Nico Leon. Selina has a meeting with the Queen of Hearts, who reveals she wants to have a meeting with Catwoman, who she heard was locked up in this prison. Selina and Marquise craft a plan, with Marquise stabbing herself in the neck. The doctors later say she died, but Marquise is still alive and meets with Punchline, promising her that she will take the villain to Catwoman. Marquise meets with Selina, telling her Punchline is here and Selina reveals herself to Marquise as Catwoman. Punchline and Catwoman brawl, with Selina insisting the two should work together. In the process a riot breaks out as does an escape by the inmates. In the end, Punchline has reached out to the criminals and says she and Catwoman are working together. Catwoman arrives at the meeting of the crime heads and now Eiko has to make a choice.

DANGER STREET #5 by Tom King and Jorge Fornes. Orion battles Starman while Warlord digs up Good Look’s coffin. Manhunter visits Starmaker, with plans to kill him, but he changes those plans … for now, returning later and killing him.  Lady Cop goes to investigate the earth-shattering battle between Starman and Orion but runs into Warlord…literally, causing the coffin to fly from the wreckage. The leader of the Green team sends Assassin out to kill the surviving boys. And Jack Ryder meets with Batman, telling him to go back to his cave.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1071 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Stefano Raffaele, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Pansica, and Caspar Wijngaard. Talia tells more of the history of the Orghams. Meanwhile, Vandal Savage forcibly takes the stone from Amenah. In the backup, Annabel is freed by the child and she castigates Mr. Freeze, who ultimately admits the machine is not for Nora, but for himself. As Annabel and the boy leave, Freeze seals himself up in his lab and finally discovers the font of pure energy he has been looking for. It’s Arkham.

THE FLASH #796 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Wally is alive and on Planet Flash, where this team led by Gold Beetle is going to help him get back to the battle against The Fraction. The Planet Flash team arrives and battles The Fraction while Barry and his team put their plan into play. Admiral vel kills all of his soldiers and gets locked away into one of the batteries. The world gets unstuck again and time is reversed, meaning everyone is still alive except Max Mercury, including Iris, who Barry professes his love for. While everyone enjoys a barbeque, Max and Impulse race off in search of what’s next in their lives

THE FLASH #797 by Jeremy Adams, Serg Acuna and Tom Derenick. In a tale taking place during the end of THE FLASH 2022 ANNUAL, Wallace picks up Jai, irey, and Maxine from school. But the kids get apprehended by Knives Maroney, who has assembled a team made up of Dr. nightmare, Reverse Grodd, Mineral Man, Foul Play, and Heat Wave Jr. Knives has taken possession of the Eternity Mind. As things look bleak, the Super Sons arrive to lend a hand. Wallace finally arrives and they work together to stop Knives and his team. In the end, they all transport home, but the Eternity mind is left behind and picked up by Granny Goodness.

GREEN ARROW #1 by Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse. Oliver Queen is stranded in a strange, alien place. Meanwhile, Connor, Roy, and Dinah are fighting crime and get help from Chershire Cat. As Chershire cat leaves, Roy tells her that he recognizes her as his long-lost daughter Lian. During the tearful reunion, Connor and Lian are transported away. Lian finds herself being attacked by manhunters but is saved by Green Arrow and his chainsaw arrow. He takes her to a transporter and then destroys it, saying they can never go home again.

HARLEY QUINN # 29 by Tini Howard, Adam Warren, and Sweeney Boo. Harley calls on Zatanna, asking her for help to get the fish back to captain carrot and deal with Lady Quark. Zatanna casts a spell, but tells her that Harley will have to sacrifice something alive for the interdimensional protection to work. She debates what to do and, after speaking with Batman, decides to sacrifice the Ivy plant. That’s when Bud and Lou finally reveal themselves as aliens who will be her guide. In the backup,  Bud and Lou take Harley on a dream inspired journey to some really dark places.

DC UNIVERSE Month 62, Part 2

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #6 by Matthew Rosenberg, Ryan Cady, Will Robson, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. The Joker visits a comedy club and kills a comedian he does not like. Later he causes havoc and finds out that Los Angeles will be locked down, meaning he cannot take his flight to Gotham. Along the way, he runs into a Batman cosplayer and has to take pictures with him before he kills this Batman and then gets attacked by…is that Manhunter? In Gotham, Red Hood gets released because the mayhem n L.A. roves he dd not kill The Joker, who is very much alive. Under Gotham, Solomon Grundy is caring for the other Joker. In the backup, we get a retooled origin for The Joker, involving Haly’s Circus and his dead twin brother Edward.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3 by Geoff Johns, Mikel Janín, and Jerry Ordway. N 1944 the Unknown Soldier tasks Sgt. Rock and Easy Company with apprehending Per Degaton, who uses his machine to escape into 1947. He eventually comes bac to 1945, at the moment of Rock’s death before realizing something about Helena’s talisman. After explaining her situation to Deadman and Dr. Fate, Huntress helps the current JSA fight Angle Man. A little later, Degaton shows up and explains he is here to kill the JSA.

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #1 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Cian Tormey, and  Alitha Martinez. Wonder Woman and her confederates  have to deal with gods' from all cultures as they attempt to exert control over all of Earth. Dana visits Hera and pleads for peace. But peace can only be attained by being transformed to save Earth. Continued in WONDER WOMAN #797. In the backup, a YouTube influencer decides to film himself exploring Themyscira. Both the influencers are killed and a mysterious stranger arrives, telling them they will need him as an ally for what is coming.

LAZARUS PLANET: REVENGE OF THE GODS #2 by G. Willow Wilson, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Cian Tormey, Emanuela Lupacchino, and  Alitha Martinez. While Yara Flor fights monsters, Billy Batson has a encounter with the mysterious stranger, leading to he and Yara heading to Mt. Olympus. Shazam finds out that Hera has a collaborator in the form of the Wizard, who takes away Shazam’s powers. In the backup, the Amazons fight against the forces of Hades.

MILESTONE 30^TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 by Evan Narcisse, Atagun lhan, Chriscross, Nikolas Draper-vey, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Geoffrey Thorne, and Sean Damien Hill. Daktoa heroes from Earth-93 meet with current Dakota heroes to save both their worlds. In the second tale, Batman Beyond meets an older, wiser Static. n the third tale, set in the 1993 Dakota, Raquel Ervin takes up the mantle of con. In the final tale, the Blood Syndicate try to deal with life after Holocaust. But Dharma has plans, looking to make the heroes of Dakota into his new Shadow Cabinet.

MONKEY PRINCE #12 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Ing Fire Bull is released from his prison and launches another attack. In the process he learns that Monkey king actually breathed Monkey Prince into existence as a clone and, when he went into the Phantom Zone, the clones went with hm. The Ultra-Humanite accessed the Phantom Zone and his “parents” found him there taking him bac to Earth and raising him. With his origin revealed, he and Supergirl work together to imprison King Fire Bull once more.

MUTLIVERSITY: HARLEY SCREWS UP THE DCU #1 by Frank Tieri and Logan Faerber. Harley opens an “old-timey Porta-Portty” that is labeled as The Way Back Booth. She ends up on a world where all of her friends are controlled by Starro. She fights them off and learns from a stranger that her interference eliminated all the heroes. Even more surprising is that the stranger is Harley herself.

NIGHTWING #102 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, C.S. Pacat, and Eduardo Pansica. Nightwing continues to try and protect Olivia from the Grinning Man, even after he disguises himself as Nightwing. They defeat him with the help of the Titans and, with Donna Tory’s lasso, he reveals he is working for Neron, leading them to decide to go to the Nether Realm. In the backup, Nightwing continues to investigate the doings at the circus and accuses the woman who runs it of sabotaging things.

POISON IVY #10 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Ivy and Janet head to Gwendolyn Caltrope’s retreat, where Ivy is convinced strange things are happening. While there, Ivy sees the mysterious tree man. Everyone drinks a concoction, get very high and Ivy and Janet sleep together. In the end, they discover that this version of Lamia is growing wild and infected everyone.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #6 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Glen Melnikov. Punchline wakes to find she is being cared for by The Joker, who seems to have mellowed and not to Punchline’s liking. She runs off to confront Black Mask. That leads to an all out assault including Bluebird and Batman, but also those Royal Flush members still loyal to her. Blac Mask flees and cases of XO are taken by those under its control. Punchline ends up having Bluff electrocuted for his treachery. Blac Mask gets arrested, Punchline and her followers get away and it looks like Selna Kyle will eventually be brought not the mix.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #5 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. The time lost heroes head off to save Emiko and Judy Garrick, but many of them are captured in the process. Emiko convinces Judy to use her powers to vibrate through a wall and free them, but also freeing Secret, Sparky, The Whiz Kid and a youthful version of Dyna-Mite in the process. Childminder has her army attack them just as Stargirl and the freed sidekicks arrive to lend a hand. In the end, Hourman arrives and insists that Emiko must come with the lost children to save them from complete obliteration.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA  #2 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. Virgil meets a new Bang Baby while continuing to befriend Quincy. In the end, a shadow organization is still making plans and that includes Quincy.

SUPERMAN #2 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. The Parasite has evolved into multiple Parasites, each one draining Superman’s powers along with every power source they can find. As they feed, they continue to multiply. In the process, Superman rescues Mercy Graves at Super-Corp. He contacts his family and finds that Jon cannot find Lois. As Superman searches, he runs into Marilyn Moonlight, who uses her powers to recharge Superman. He finds Lois but she has been infected and the Parasites are not only multiplying but their disease is airborne. Also, the secret cabal continues to work behind the scenes and experiment on Bizarro.

TIM DRAKE: ROBIN #7 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Serg Acuna. T’s a date night for Tim and Bernard but their date brings them directly not an interaction with Bernard’s parents who are not happy with him with his father telling him he should never been born. Firefly shows up and so does Robin. Firefly is defeated but then Tim realizes that this may be something to do with the villain Phobia. He goes back and is captured, leading to Bernard helping to save the day.

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1 by Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham. Following the events in LAZARUS PLANET: DARK FATE #1, the new Doom Patrol has decided their new mission is to find and rescue any metahumans whose abilities make them freaks. But that mission leads them into a direct confrontation with Batman and Robin. They manage to find the metahuman they were searching for, named Degenerate, and he joins up with the team. Meanwhile, Peacemaker is planning to take down the team. And, if that wasn’t enough, Monsieur Mallah betrays and seemingly kills the Brain at the direction of General Immortus.

WILDC.A.T.S. #5 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. With Cole apparently dead, the ladies of WildC.A.T.S. investigate his apartment and find a picture of Jason Halliday. In Ohio, Superman meets up with Marlowe’s newest team and meets Majestic, who claims he is Kryptonian, which Superman denies and that leads to a brawl between the two. Later Cray confronts Marlowe and Colt, anting to know how they know Halliday. Colt gets a call and he flies off to help in Ohio, which mean he now gets into the fight with Superman. Cray has a private meeting with Halliday but there is a battle with his bodyguard, Warblade. Voodoo and Ladytron dig up Cole’s grave, where they discover the body is Cole Cash but not THEIR Cole Cash. In the end, Cray and Warblade fight but Pike and Andromache arrive and she cut’s off Cray’s head.

WONDER WOMAN #797 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Josie Campbell, Caitlin Yarsky, and Amancay Nahuelpan. Wonder Woman has now become a god, thanks to a deal with Hera. In return, she is hung out on the Promethean Cliffs. She manages to escape, thanks to the mysterious hooded stranger and Ratatosk, and heads back to Themyscira to help her fellow Amazons defend against Hades' army of the dead. But Nubia insists she go back to man’s world to help there. In the backup, Mary Marvel teams up with a group of Amazons to fight Hades’ army, before heading back to man’s world to help there.

 

 

DC UNIVERSE Month 62, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1053 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Wiliams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks, and Marguerite Sauvage. Metallo brings and his creations attack Superman's family because he believes that Superman has kidnapped his sister. In the process, Supergirl is poisoned by Kryptonite. Superman visits with Lex, who says that Corben hearing voices is not good. Corben, still talking to his “sister”, is having issues with his body mutating and another voice in his head instructs him to kill Superman and his whole family. Jon tries to bond with the Super-Twins but it seems Otho has gone on a deadly rampage. In the second tale  Superman and Lois search for Jon after Doombreaker shows up. The robot captures Princess Glyanna and Jon takes also. Jon tries to engage their escape but he destroys the ship’s controls and the craft is now crashing to earth. In the final tale,  Power Girl, now going by the name of Paige, brings Jon Kent into her mind to lure out a villain who is targeting other heroes. Unfortunately, that draws out Johnny Sorrow.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: JON KENT #1 by Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry. Ultraman has decided it’s his mission to kill every Kal-El across the Multiverse. This leads to Val-Zod and the female Red Tornado to enlist Jon’s help to fight Ultraman, who was the villain who kept Jon trapped for so many years. , a pair of heroes enlist Jon Kent's help to stop his former tormentor. Red Tornado reveals that she is Lois Lane and she is asking for Jon’s help to stop Ultraman before it’s too late.

BATGIRLS #16 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Neil Googes. After reading a letter delivered to Grace last issue, the Batgirls follows White Rabbit clues, which leads them to Mad Hatter and his Bat Family puppets. After defeating the puppets, they give chase but Steph is hit with a gas that turns her into Girl-Bat. Cass brings the beast to her senses and they capture Hatter, who is charged with murder. In the end, the pair fly off together, where we presume an antidote will eventually be given.

BATMAN #133 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano Di Benedetto. After the events of last issue, Batman dons his costume and plans to bring the legend of Batman to this new universe, with the first person he takes down is this universe’s version of The Riddler. This obviously gets the attention of Red Mask, who wants Selina to bring him Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, Batman digs up the grave of Bruce Wayne but is caught by Alfred. He explains he S Bruce Wayne from another universe and he is trying to figure who killed this universe’s Bruce Wayne. He investigates the body and discovers there is Multiversal energy present, meaning he could be a Bruce from another universe too. Judge Dent sows up and, after using Venom, the pair fight. After defeating him, Selina arrives and tells Bruce she is willing to help to take down Red Mask and leads him to the caves under Arkham. In the backup, Robin battles Toyman and eventually gets back to our universe. Now he plans to use Toyman to bring Batman back home.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #6 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. The Riddler is being held and tortured by Professor Pyg and his Dollotrons. But The Riddler is not alone as it seems most of Gotham’s villains are also being held here. That beings Batman Incorporated, despite trust issues, into action to find him and stop him.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #13 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. Smon Stagg has been murdered and it’s up to the World’s Finest team to figure it out. Their first logical suspect is Metamorpho but, after finding that to be inconclusive, Clark gets Jimmy to investigate. The results: Bruce Wayne is arrested for the murder.

BLACK ADAM #9 by Christopher Priest and Eddy Barrows. Adam gets his ring delivered back to him while War, Love and Gods investigate the city. Later, Oni Grace arrives, showing him the protests n the streets. She also relates the tale of how Teth Adam was killed by Ibac, but was reborn and eventually cursed to be Blac Adam. N the end, a mysterious visitor comes to the bedside of Malik.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #5 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Various members of the Justice League show up to battle Nitida and Dynastes but that leads to Jaime and Starfire battling Cyborg and Black Condor. It’s revealed that The is not the real enemy here, but The Horizon is and they’ve arrived on Earth.

CATWOMAN #53 by Tini Howard and Nico Leon. The new Catwoman is dong her best to stop crime until she runs into the Crazy Eights. Meanwhile, Selina begins training her fellow prisoners in hopes of a potential breakout but those plans change when the Queen of Hearts ends up in the same jail.

DANGER STREET #4 by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. While the surviving Dingbats research who the blue man might be, J.P. Houston gets killed by Manhunter, who tells Assassin that he has three more boys to kill. Starman and Warlord get direction to the graveyard and beginning digging when they are visited by Orion. Later, while Jack Ryder is dealing with his boss at Green Team Headquarters, Assassin kills Grandmaster, who is, in fact, Manhunter’s father.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1070 by Ram V and Stefano Raffaele. Oracle reveals that Batgirl is in the tunnels and thinks that the Orghams have made their way into the tunnels in search of a long lost memory. Batman meets with Talia who tells him that Azren Orgham’s father had sent out his most trusted to save the most precious things in the world. Among those servants was the man who eventually killed him: Ra’s Al Ghul. While searching for answers, Oracle is visited by Arclight of The Vigil, telling her that the situation needs to be fixed or The Vigil will fix it for them. In the backup, Mr. Freeze is still experimenting with little success. Luckily, a certain boy with no name arrives and attempts to free Annabel Mead.

THE FLASH #794 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Jay has been captured by The Fraction, Wally is dead and Irey, with the code name of Thunderheart, has to fight Miss Murder by herself. Luckily she gets an assist from Superman. Among the heartbreak of Wally’s death, Barry figures out how to win, by making sure these events never happened in the first place, technically saving Wally and Iris. On the ship, Jay gets free and now has a gun, which means he is ready to fight back.

THE FLASH #795 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz, George Kambadias and Fernando Pasarin. The team launches their attack on The Fraction while Wally awakes to find he is not dead . . . he’s on Planet Flash.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #6 by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. With Danny terrorizes the town, Montoya decides she is going after him herself, especially after getting information from Eric, which upsets Sam. Danny’s father is brought in and charged with obstruction, which leads Montoya to meet with Sam and get Luis Ortega’s phone back, allowing her to track Danny. She confronts him and gets him to surrender. In the end, life gets back to normal and she had another park date with Aliyah.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #6 by Tom King and Phil Hester. After taking out Richard Wayne’s bodyguards, he confronts Wayne and his wife. The pair begin to fight while Mrs. Wayne reveals how she found a cave beneath the Manson filled with clothing from Richard’s various sexual conquests. She has figured out that he arranged the kidnapping of his own daughter and she kills her husband. She then goes on to explain that her daughter drowned in her own vomit, so she took her daughter and buried her. Her story is going to be that her husband took his own life and she will beg for peace in Gotham, making her the hero of the story. With an influx of money, Wayne Chemical gets built and, many years later, becomes Ace Chemical. Year later, she shows up at Slam’s office, asking him to be a mentor to her son Thomas.

HARLEY QUINN #28 by Tini Howard and Sweeney Boo. Harley finds herself bored because Ivy’s out of town so she engages in a war with Two-Face. Kevin calls the police on her and she is sentenced to community service, leading to her teaching at a local community college. Two-Face attacks her at the college but she defeats hm with a giant, smiling fish. This brings Lady Quark not the picture, explaining that Harley s accidentally punching through the walls of the Multiverse, and if this continues Lady Quar will destroy Gotham and Harley and the world.

Another big batch of first issues

BLACK TAPE #1 by Dan Panosian and Dalibor Talajic. A legendary rock star dies and his girlfriend is left to pick up the pieces. But it’s not as simple as that as there’s something sinister revolving around it, especially when she goes digging and finds a Pentagram where she didn’t expect to find it. Panosian does a great job crafting the story and Dalibor Talajic’s art is really nice. Another AWA winner!

BLOOD TREE #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Maxim Simic. Somebody is killing angels and that’s where our story begins and the question is why and who is responsible. It’s a murder mystery with a lot of twists. Tomasi’s story is filled with clues and possibilities, so that’s a plus. I find the art style very discomforting and I am not a fan of it at all, as it distracts me from the story. If only Gary Frank, who did the variant cover, had done the artwork in the interior.

BLUE BOOK #1 by James Tynion IV, Michael Avon Oeming, and Klaus Janson. Two stories here, both written by Tynion. In the first, and the main attraction for the book, is the true story of Barney and Betty Hill, who had a strange encounter back in 1961. The second tale is set in 1889 Coney Island and, for me, was more of a dessert piece after the main course. I have been a fan of Michael Avon Oeming’s art since POWERS and it fits this strange tale about this classic encounter. If you were a fan of DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH, you will find this a nice companion.

CHILLING ADVENTURES PRESENTS BETTTY THE FINAL GIRL #1 by Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, Sam Maggs, Laura Braga, Carola Borelli, and Natalie Nardozza. Three tales from various corners of the Archie Universe wrapped around Betty and movie night while babysitting. In the first one, a crazy masked killer is on the loose. In the second, Josie and the Pussycats have killers at their concert. In the final tale, we go back to the beginning and that babysitting gig.

CLEAR #1 by Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul. It’s 2052 and special technology let’s you see your world how ever you want. Wrapped around that is a murder mystery that brings detective Sam Dunes into the mix. It’s a tale filled with bad guys, ingenues and an interesting take on future technology. Snyder is known for writing a great story, as readers have seen on so many of his works. And Manapul has been knocking it out of the park for years. This is a story with so many layers that you will probably go back and read it more than once to fully understand it.

DOCTOR STRANGE #1 by Jed Mackay, Andy MacDonald and Pasqual Ferry. Doctor Strange is back from the dead and has been reunited with his wife Clea. Now he is back as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth while Clea is Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension. He has his way of dealing with problems and she has her own, which may be a little more aggressive. Fun story and great art that sets things up for the future while the backup ties into the ending of the main story.

HELLCAT #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Alex Lins. Patsy Walker has such a strange life. She’s been a model, been a superhero and been romantically involved with Tony Stark. And now she may be a murderer and that brings back memories she would rather forget. Cantwell’s murder mystery story is great and, although I‘m not a fan of the artwork, I found the story totally engaging and can’t wat to see where Cantwell takes us next.

THE LAST RONIN: THE LOST YEARS #1 by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, SL Gallant, and Ben Bishop. Last year’s THE LOST YEARS was a huge hit with fans and this prequel will certainly fit the bill for those fans. It’s a tale that bounces back and forth in time with Gallant and Bishop handling the art duties specific to each time period. Eastman knows his characters and knows them well, so there is no issue with that and the art fts the specific parts of the stories and work together well. Definitely recommended!

MONARCH #1 by Rodney Barnes and Alex Lins. Aliens have come to Earth and for Travon, his family and friends, thinks have gotten desperate. To say much more, except to be caught off guard by the twist ending, which leads into another twist in issue #2, would certainly spoil it. Barnes is the writer behind NIGHTMARE and the highly recommended KILLADELPHIA, so he knows how to craft a tale. Lins is also the artist on HELLCAT, but it fits nicely here.

NIGHT WALKERS #1 by Cullen Bunn and Joe Bocardo. What happens when you and a bunch of other folks are going through rehab and the world seems to end? That’s the basis of this tale as a group of drug addicts find themselves on the run from some pretty nasty creatures. Bunn’s story is a wild take on the “teens in trouble” genre while throwing in the whole concept of addiction. Bocardo’s art is very reminiscent of Andrea Sorrentino’s and fits this tale perfectly, as it is dark and creepy.

PHANTOM ROAD #1 by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel H. Walta. You’re a long haul trucker and you suddenly have a close encounter with what appears to be a ghost. That leads to you meeting with a girl in an accident and then things get weird when strange creatures are now following you. Lemire is well respected writer who was responsible for SWEET TOOTH  and more and readers will either like his work or not. Suffice it to say he likes to work with weird. Walta’s art is very simple but just detailed enough.

RED ZONE #1 by Cullen Bunn and Mike Deodato Jr. I just have to say that I love a good spy story with intrigue and action. And here it is! Bunn’s story has a ton of twists and turns and what can I say about Deodato’s artwork that hasn’t been said before. The plotting is good, the look is wonderful and this is just another winner from AWA.

SPIDER-GWEN: SHADOW CLONES #1 by Emily Kim and Kei Zama. I was not a fan of Spider-Gwen but have grown to like her over the years. So, here we have Gwen encountering multiple Gwens . . . like we didn’t have that happen before. But these Gwens are villains. The story is okay, but not great and the artwork you can either take or leave, as it is very Manga inspired. For me, the highlight was the variant cover by Greg Land, which is awesome!

STONE HEART #1 by Emma Kubert.  It’s a Medieval fantasy tale with a strong female character trying to exist in a new place with a new occupation. But there is also a strange history that haunts her. Kubert’s art is different and she won many fans with her work on INKBLOT, RADIANT PINK and her current run on PANDORA. That said, her art style is either for you or not. But the story…a load of fun!

SUPERMAN LOST #1 by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan. Superman goes off on an emergency while Lois takes a nap. Hours later she awakes and he returns, saying he has been gone for twenty years. What? This is the mystery that Priest drops onto us and it’s great! I love Pargulayan’s art too, which just enhances the story.

THE X-CELLENT #1 by Peter Milligan and Michael “Doc” Allred. The final encounter between the X-Cellent and X-Statix is here and it’s a weird, wild ride, just as the previous entries were. There is no other way to describe it. The characters are totally bizarre, Allred’s artwork is, as it always had been, something you either love or hate, and the story is so crazy you will either love it or hate it. Me? I’m a huge fan of this whole product!

X23: DEADLY REGENESIS #1 by Erica Schultz and Edgar Salazar.  I Have always been a fan of this character and feel she has been often underutilized over the years. But this series looks to put her dead and center. She deals with saving people in a fire while a villain from her past looks to take her out. The story has great promise and Salazar’s art looks great! Can’t wait to see how the fest of this goes!

DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 2

THE HUMAN TARGET #12 by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance is dead and Ice needs to deal with the consequences. Martian Manhunter meets with her and threatens an investigation but she tells him that he will reveal his affair with Fire, so that means she wants to run her own investigation into Chance’s death. A month after Chance’ death and Ice is planning to dispose of his ashes when Guy shows up. She ends up hitting him with the bottle containing the ashes, which are now spread over him. Before he died, Chance asked for one last favor. In the end, she meets with Lex Luthor and it appears she may have finally been able to poison him.

I AM BATMAN #18 by John Ridley and Christian Duce. Batman, with the help of is sister and Nobody, who is actually Hadiyah, succeed in saving Jace’s birth mom. He meets with her after and she promises to try and be his mother. Jace decides to leave to figure out his life and his sister comes with him.

ICON VS. HARDWARE #1 by Reginald Hudlin, Leon Chills, Denys Cowan and Yasin Florez Montanez. Icon has sent Rocket to school in Switzerland, where she finds it difficult to fit in, especially when a group of girls may have caused one student to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Hardware becomes suspicious of Icon and begins to investigate him. But he also travels into the past to find out why his father left his family when he was a child. He meets with his younger self years later and convinces him to steal Alva’s gas, but that results in Alva being killed in the process. A year later, Hardware runs Alva industries and there is a super-powered war going on, even though the Big Bang never happened. That leads to a visit by Icon.

THE JOKER: THE MAN WHO STOPPED LAUGHING #5 by Matthew Rosenberg, Francisco Francavilla, and Carmine Di Giandomenico. A group of boys break into the house that once belonged to The Joker, only to find Jervis Tetch there. That’s when The Imposter Joker arrives, dressed as Batman, saving the boys. Tetch reveals the real Joker is back in Gotham and he’s not happy about an imposter running around. Later, a Joker traps the Imposter, who gets acid thrown in his face and shot in the face for his troubles. The Joker who did the shooting is seemingly run over by a train. In the end, the Joker who was shot, revealed to be Clayface, calls the real Joker in Malibu, who decides he needs to do this himself.

LAZARUS PLANET: DARK FATE #1 by Tim Seeley, Dennis Culver, A.L. Kaplan. Alyssa Wong, Baloemar Rivas, Chris Burnham, A.L. Kaplan, Haining. IN the first story, Huntress must stop a riot at Arkham begun by a newly powered Killer Moth. In the second tale, the Doom Patrol, Elasti-Woman, Robotman, Negative Man and The Chief (currently Crazy Jane), are sent to take down an Army general who has developed strange powers due to the Lazarus Rain. To be continued in UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1. In the third story, actor Jules Jordain gets new energy powers and adopts the name of Circuit Breaker. To be continued in DC PRIDE 2023.  In the final tale, the hero Envoy must stop an attack from the spirit world and gets help from Cassandra Cain and John Constantine. To be continued in SPIRIT WORLD #1.

LAZARUS PLANET: LEGENDS REBORN #1 by Alex Segura, Alex Parknadel, Greg Pak, Dennis Culver, Clayton Henry, Christopher Mitten, Mikyu Junk and Jesus Merino. In the first tale, Renee Montoya dons The Question’s mask to investigate a monster that is on a killing spree after being transformed by Lazarus Rain. In the second story, Raven and Gar, actually Trigon, face off against Trigon’s sons. The third tale features City Boy: a new hero who tows the line between hero and crook. In the final tale, Firestorm gets reborn in the merging of Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Ramirez after the apparent death of Professor Stein.

LAZARUS PLANET: NEXT EVOLUTION #1 by Ram V, Brandon T. Snider, Chuck Brown, Delilah S. Dawson, Lalit Sharma, Laura Braga, Alitha Martinez, Ted Brandt and Ro Stein. Red Hood faces off against a new team called The Vigil: Arclight, Saya and Dodge. In the second tale, Flatline battles Ubu, only to find Ra’s al Ghul at the end of her journey. In the third story, Deadeye meets with Amanda Waller on the Astral Plane before facing off against the Amalgam Man. In the final tale, Red Canary teams up with Sideways to stop some of those folks changed by the Lazarus Rain.

LAZARUS PLANET: OMEGA #1 by Mark Waid, Gene Luen Yang, Riccardo Federici, Mike Perkins and Billy Tan. The heroes face off against King Fire Bull. Elsewhere, Black Alice sacrifices herself to free the magic users, most powerful of which is The Spectre. With King Fire Bull dispatched, the world goes back to normal, except the magic users powers have been restored in new and different ways, with many of the heroes powers temporarily scrambled.  Batman is restored, mostly, and that will lead into BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5. In the backup, Shifu tells the Monkey Prince how King ire Bull came to be.  The Red Boy, after the death of King Bull Demon and Princess Iron Fan, he trains with Nezha. When the pair go after Darkseid, Darkseid reveals that what happened was because of Nezha’s own thirst for power. When Red Boy turns on Nezha, he is defeated and later is reborn as King Fire Bull, with an appetite for vengeance against Nezha.

MONKEY PRINCE #11 by Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang. Winston and Gerard install the Phantom Crystal, opening a portal to the Phantom Zone. But since half of this is made from Earth materials, they need to get the other half of the Phantom Zone Projector from the Hall of Justice. When Marcus returns to the Hall, he finds it in ruins as Winston and the Ultra-Humanite reassemble the Phantom Zone Projector. Winston accidentally activates the Projector, causing Marcus to jump into the Phantom Zone where the Monkey King awaits. After a confrontation, it is revealed that Winston and Laura had kidnapped Marcus from his father. Sun Wukong says he cannot leave to help fight against King Fire Bull, but he teaches him how to create perfect clones to find him. When he arrives home, Gerard injects him with nanites, saying he will torture him if he disobeys Gerard.

NIGHTWING #101 by Tom Taylor, C.S. Pascat, Travis Moore and Eduardo Pansica. Blockbuster’s daughter, Olivia Desmond, is in the care of the Titans. But Lord Neron has a plan to have a shapeshifting demon called the Grinning Man get into Raven’s safe space and capture her soul. In the backup, set after the events in NIGHTWING 2022 ANNUAL, Nightwing and Jon Kent team up to investigate accidents at a circus, which results in a bomb going off under the big top.

POISON IVY #9 by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara. Harley comes to visit Ivy and Janet and their relationship is rekindled. Harley also says she has been tracking Ivy all this time and shows her how a garden has sprung up in Montana, proving Ivy can change the world. Harley heads back to Gotham and Ivy decides to follow her and take Janet with her.

PUNCHLINE: THE GOTHAM GAME #5 by Tini Howard, Blake Howard and Glen Melnikov. The battle at Port Royal between Black Mask and his team and the Royal Flush Gang continues, even as the ‘Aces High’ initiative has been activated, unleashing Ace Android. Nightwing and Bluebird arrive to free Cullen and they get attacked by the Ace Android, that splits into two. Bluebird initiates an anti-nanobot field that causes them to dissipate. Punchline decides it’s time to retreat but not before she is shot by Black Mask, resulting in the surviving gang members to leave her behind. She ends up wounded in a dumpster and gets found by a homeless person…who turns out to be The Joker.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDREN #4 by Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck. Corky Baxter explains that, because of FLASHPOINT and DOOMSDAY CLOCK, Rip and his team ended up in the Divine Continuum. And, because of Batman’s events in FLASHPOINT BEYOND, the timeline was screwed up and the Childminder took advantage of it, capturing the children. They gather together and make an assault on the castle. At the castle, Childminder sets Judy Garrick on the treadmill in order to bring her mentor and buyer here. When the buyer arrives, it is revealed to be Hourman.

STATIC: SHADOWS OF DAKOTA  #1 by Nikolas Draper-Ivey and Vita Ayala. A new group, led by someone or something, is targeting Bang Babies and now Static gets involved to solve the mystery and save those individuals.

SUPERMAN #1 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. Clark Kent is bck in Metropolis, doing what he does best: stopping crime and working as a reporter, under interim Editor in Chief Lois Lane Kent. Lex is in prison and is whispering warnings to the Man of Steel about a massive threat on the horizon. Mercy Graves has rebranded Lexcor as Supercorp and wants him to work there, with some of the best scientists in the world. He heads off to confront Luthor but is caught in a battle with Parasite that overwhelms him. In the end, Superman is being held captive and being experimented on my two unknown enemies.

TIM DRAKE #6 by Meghan Fitzmartin and Riley Rossmo. Tim is forced to face his fears and Moriarty to save the life of Bernard. Moriarty transforms himself into Batman, meaning Robin must battle “Batman”. He defeats the Clayface-like villain and he and his friends find the bombs, saving the boats and Bernard.

WILDC.A.T.S #4 by Matthew Rosenberg and Stephen Segovia. Grifter finds himself battling in the middle of an ethnic cleansing civil war and is losing,  He crosses paths with Angel Breaker and eventually ends up back at headquarters, where the team shows that Cash has died. Elsewhere, the Seven Soldiers are becoming the public face of HALO and Majestic reveals he is a son of Krypton too.

WONDER WOMAN #796 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Amancay Nahuelpan and Paulina Ganucheau. The Olympian Gods continue their invasion of Earth, resulting in all of humanity being compromised by Eros's love spell and a Titan destroying all it sees. Yara battles her former lover Eros while Siggy and Steve go after the Titan. Both teams win their battles, but Diana warns this is only the beginning. On Olympus, Zeus is slain by his wife, who becomes the Queen of Olympus…with the great Wizard Shazam by her side. In the backup, Young Diana has a final meeting with Persephone, who reveals she can never leave the caves of Themyscira.

DC UNIVERSE Month 61, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #1052 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Leah Williams, Rafa Sandoval, Lee Weeks and Marguerite Sauvage. The Superman Family continues to battle with Metallo who, despite being launched into deep space by Superman, discovers that he needs an upgrade. After talking with his “sister”, who insists he kills the whole Superman Family, he goes recruiting his own family of super-powered beings…or they will be when he is done. In the second tale, Jon makes friends with the mysterius alien girl, but that get interrupted by Killamex, who is here to capture her. When the attack happens, Jon calls for his father and then Lois is surprised by a visit from…Doombreaker. In the final tale, Power Girl and Omen have a new client and she is Supergirl. A trip into the Mindscape takes the girls to Argo City, as they try to solve her physical and emotional issues.

BATGIRLS #15 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Neil Googe. Cass goes searching for Steph while Steph’s father tortures her. Cluemaster reveals that he did in fact die but was brought back to life after having his dead body kidnapped and then getting dosed with Lazarus Resin. Cass finds Steph and, during a battle where Cluemaster sets off a bomb that lights his cabin on fire, he accidentally shoots his own daughter. Steph gives her a tiny bit of Lazarus and then saves Steph. In the end, Grace O’Halloran receives a gift: a severed head wrapped with a bow and a note saying ‘READ ME’.

BATMAN #132 by Chip Zdarsky, Mike Hawthorne and Miguel Mendonca. Bruce continues to find his way in an alternate Gotham where Bruce died and there never was a Batman. Jewel has saved him and now, the skeletal Jim Gordan suggest she be named Panic Attack. Bruce, in disguise, goes a a gala fundraiser where he dances with Selina Kyle, who recognizes him and is surprised, considering he is supposed to be dead. He sees someone he believes is The Joker and a battle ensues between Selina, Bruce and Punchline, resulting in Bruce getting shot and getting away at the same time. He resolves to become…a bat. Also, Red Mask visits The Judge, Harvey Dent, and gives him an ultimatum. In the backup, Tim, with the help of Mr. Terrific, uses Failsafe’s gun to venture into the Multiverse in search of Batman. But where he ends up brings him face to face with Toyman.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. While Ghost-Maker heads back to base, the rest of the team is having their own issues with the castoffs from Luthor’s failed Batman experiment. Phantom-One and Black Mist make their move, taking down Ghost-Maker. Black Mist who was trying to be the Batman of Dublin, was critically injured by Tommy Tivane, and eventually faked her own death to rebuild herself. When she saw Ghost-Maker abandon Phantom-One, she saved him. Now, with Batman Inc. in disarray, they have tasked Clownhunter to finish off his mentor.

BATMAN INCORPORATED #5 by Ed Brisson and John Timms. The team has been captured and Ghost-Maker is facing death at the hands of his protégé. He explains that he had to make a choice in the past: save Phantom-One or ten people in danger of dying. Clownhunter reveals he cannot do this, leading to a fight between Ghost-Maker and Phantom-One, with Phantom-One gaining the advantage. Ghost-Maker turns the tabeles and allows the critically injured Phantom-One to be taken away by the Black Mist, The Fallen, Fissure, Hollow, and Onyx; all of whom have the reasons for having eliminated those connected to Ghost-Maker. In the end, Jiro returns to Japan, only to find that Dr. Wu had visitors…and not good ones.

BATMAN: LEGENDS OF GOTHAM  #1 by Andy Diggle and Karl Mostert, Red Hood teams up with Katana and Black Lightning to make his way into a special auction where the hero secrets that Leviathan stole are up for grabs. That leads them to an Orbital Crypto Bank where Red Hood secures the data chip, which he later destroys. In actuality, he didn’t get to destroy the real chip, which now appears to be in Talia’s hands.

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #12 by Mark Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino. Back in the day, Dick Grayson and Supergirl go out for the worst date ever, including some craziness resulting from an escaped monkey.

BATMAN VS. ROBIN #5 by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar. Demon Nezha has transferred his soul into Batman's body and now Robin must try to save him with the help of the Bat Family and Monkey Prince, who is able to create clones of Damian. The arrival of Zatanna, Enchantress and Pigsy helps, as they remove Nezha from Batman’s body, but at the cost of Batman’s life. Damian calls upon all of Gotham and anyone that can hear him to use their positive energy, which brings Batman back to life. In the end, everyone is evacuated from Lazarus Island and there is no longer any Lazarus Resin on Earth…maybe.

BLACK ADAM #8 by Christopher Priest, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira and Montos. Jasmin and Kenisha are trying to get Malik’s ring back, but war has destroyed the store. Luckily, he’s nice enough to give the girls the ring. Later, Anu and Ishtar arrive, wondering what War’s game plan is. Black Adam tries to make up for destroying a plane by saving another one. With Malik in a coma, Adam tells how he once became ruler of Egypt. In the end, it seems that the people are not fans of Black Adam.

BLUE BEETLE: GRADUATION DAY #4 by Josh Trujillo and Adrian Gutierrez. Brenda and Paco think it’s a great idea for them to team up with Fadeaway, who confesses that his grandfather was the original Fadeaway Man. He is asking for Jamie’s help in recovering his grandfather’s artifacts and Jamie agrees to help.  That leads them to Kord Industries, where Jamie finds Xiomara, who continues to warn him about his scarab. Jamie finds the missing stuff Fadeaway is looking for, but accidentally kills the power at the lab, allowing Xiomara to get free. Fadeaway also splits, leaving Jamie holding the blame when Victoria and Ted arrive. All of this will lead to a direct confrontation with Batman and the Justice League.

CATWOMAN #52 by Tini Howard and Sami Basri. With Selina still in prison, Eiko and Dario work together to try to take down Black Mask’s organization from the inside, which also allows Dario to gain some revenge on his ex. In prison, Selina turns down help from a lawyer and decides to train the criminals she is in with, including Hopps, Lisa Foss, Marquise, Lady Clayface, Fright, and Scorpiana, how to be really effective criminals.

DANGER STREET #3  by Tom King and Jorge Fornés. Lady Cop continues to search for the ‘Blue Man’. Metron reveals to Highfather and Darkseid that he is aware that Atlas is dead but there is someone on Earth who can still keep the sky from falling, leading to Orion being contacted. Starman and Warlord meet with Cecil Sunbeam on his movie set.  Manhunter tries to murder Commodore Murphy, which is stopped by Codename: Assassin. The surviving Dingbats decide they need a gun and, after Non-Fat ends up in Lady Cop’s office, he sees a picture of Starman and now he knows who they should be searching for.

DETECTIVE COMICS  #1069 by Ram V, Simon Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard, Dexter Soy, Stefano Raffaele, Miguel Mendonća. With the help of the Ten-Eyed Man, Harvey helps Batman fight back against the Azmer infection. Barbara has discovered that there is some kind of power source on top of some ley lines in Gotham. Beneath the city, many folks are being held captive but Shoes manages to escape. When guards go after her, they run into Solomon Grundy. In the backup, psychiatrist Annabel Mead has been captured by Mr. Freeze and becomes part of his experiments, leading to her meeting Earworm.

THE FLASH: ONE-MINUTE WAR SPECIAL #1 by Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Serg Acuna, Lisandro Estherren and George Kambadais. On the Fraction’s home world, they figure out how to tap into the Speed Force. They can now colonize the entire star system, but doing so destroyed their own world environment. The Fraction's Empress orders the captain of her guard, Vel Anthro to find new worlds with resources they need, which leads him to Earth where they find “organic conduits”. In the second part of the story, Dark Wu drains Avery’s soul into a gem, so he can use the sun’s powers to destroy the world and make him a god. When the Fraction arrive, they kidnap Wu and Avery must keep them from activating the gem. She is able to shoot the gem and free her soul as the Fraction flies off. In the final part, set in the future, the as-yet unborn third child of Wally and Linda has been kidnapped by the Fraction and it’s up to Jai, now known as the adult hero Surge, and Irey, currently the adult Flash, to try to find him. They reach out to Impulse who arranges for Gold Beetle to help. Jai recalls her as being a girl he once fell in love with and she kisses him, reminding him that this was the first thing she would do when they met up again.  Together, they go off to rescue Jai’s brother. To be continued in THE FLASH #792

THE FLASH #792 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. Barry, still reeling from Iris’ death, joins the Flash Family to stop the Fraction. Bart and Wallace try to get into the Fraction’s vehicle to develop a way to reverse what they have done and unfreeze the world while the rest of the Flash Family break into Mister Terrific’s lab to set up a base. Bart and Wallace get inside one of the tanks, but Miss Murder has tracked them down and follows. Once inside, they steal a battery that disrupts the ship they are in. The battery gets cracked open and they find a person inside. Miss Murder arrives and the three escape from her in a tank, where they find the frozen forms of Grodd, Captain Atom and Superman inside.

THE FLASH #793 by Jeremy Adams and Roger Cruz. The speedster that Bart and Wallace have freed tells the Flash Family how the Fraction uses the Speed Force in search of “organic conduits” like themselves. They deduce that they need to destroy the spire to unfreeze the other heroes. They install the battery in a car, believing they can use it to get inside and use one of the Fraction’s engines to destroy the spire. The team attacks the spire, while Irey is left behind to watch over the frozen heroes. Once inside, Wally gets blasted by a Fraction cannon and seemingly destroyed. Meanwhile, Miss Murder is chasing after Irey.

GCPD: THE BLUE WALL #5  by John Ridley and Stefano Raffaele. Danny Ortega has gone off the deep end and killed Benny Montoya and Sondra Wright, and his manifesto is directly aimed at Renee and GCPD, who let the racial harassment go unnoticed. Later, police end jp in an ambush, with Danny killing them, including Lieutenant Caruso. After crossing paths with Eric, he runs off, leaving Eric to call info intel on Danny’s vehicle. In the end, Renee breaks her vow and has one last drink after Two Face offers to find and kill Danny for her, to apologize for everything he had done to her.

GOTHAM CITY: YEAR ONE #5 by Tom King and Phil Hester. Queenie reveals how she ended up having an affair with Richard Wayne, and how Johnny blackmailed her and ended up being shot by Richard Wayne. The plan was for Wayne to kidnap his own daughter, get the ransom money and then meet Queenie two months later in Central City. But that’s not how it happened as the girl ended up being murdered and was buried in Queenie’s uncle’s back yard. After a visit to his mother, who plays Tarot cards to reveal her fortune, Slam goes after Loder, who he believed murdered the girl. He says he did not kill her and reveals that Richard Wayne has no money and that he works for Mrs. Wayne. So, did Mrs. Wayne kill her own daughter?

HARLEY QUINN #27 by Stephanie Phillips, Matteo Lolli and David Baldeón. The Harley Who Laughs is threatening to kill Ivy if our Harley didn't hand over the rest of the Harleys. Harley explains that every universe needs an Ivy so who is the Harley Who Laughs Ivy? Harley and Old Lady Harley go to the Harley Who Laughs's universe, where they beat up The Joker of the universe’ followers and rescue the Ivy Who Laughs.